1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to advertising and more specifically to using speech recognition to target advertisements.
2. Introduction
Businesses advertise goods and services to consumers using print ads in newspapers and magazines, direct mail, telemarketing, television commercials, radio commercials, sponsorships, promotional offers, paid search results and banner ads on the Internet, etc. Consumers are increasingly ignoring or blocking such ads, limiting their effectiveness for advertisers and decreasing their value to sellers of advertising space. For example, computer savvy World Wide Web users can use software, such as Adblock Plus or IE7pro, to filter advertising material in web pages. Another example is a telephone customer who uses Caller ID to screen calls and let any unknown callers go to voicemail. Perhaps the most widely known example is the ability of a digital video recorder (DVR) to skip commercials. But even before the advent of the DVR, the remote control allowed users to channel surf when commercials started.
As a consequence, advertisers seek more effective, direct, targeted ways to advertise to consumers. Consumers respond better to more relevant advertising material that is of direct interest. Advertisers may also enjoy more cost-effective advertising when they target only those consumers who are interested in the advertised product or service. While advertisers may pay more for each advertising impression, each impression is of higher value if it is more likely to result in a sale or in a desired behavior. Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a better way to target advertisements.